


Good Night, Sleep Tight

by fruitoftheroot, Perpetuality



Category: Alice Mare, End Roll (Video Game)
Genre: Background Character Death, Blood and Injury, Demons, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Horror, Hospitals, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Inspired by Roleplay/Roleplay Adaptation, M/M, Minor Character Death, Needles, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon, Psychological Horror, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Spoilers, Violence, everyone is traumatised bc of guilt or actual trauma, the dreamsend folks adopt five kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:20:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23679055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fruitoftheroot/pseuds/fruitoftheroot, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perpetuality/pseuds/Perpetuality
Summary: ...don't let the rabbit and cat demons bite.The death of one teenager was originally only meant to signal the end of a struggling company. Instead, it wound up connecting nine(ten)people--five children and four(five)adults--in a quest to achieve the impossible.It was finally time to end the nightmare.---In which the Dreamsend folks and the Alice Mare kids return to The World to rescue Teacher.Contains major spoilers for both games!
Relationships: Chelsy (Alice Mare)/Joshua (Alice Mare), Fairia Adelista/Raymond Costa, Walter Bartley/Teacher (Alice Mare)
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _*resurrects the Alice Mare tag*_ Hey, what's gucci.
> 
> This fic is an adaptation of a rp between myself and Taro (fruitoftheroot) because we revisited (or in my case, visited) Alice Mare last year and d*ed. We wanted to think of a way to save Teacher without his fate being Like That or without Allen doing what he did in the light novel (H) and thus came about the idea of this rp! The timeline is set a few years after the events of Alice Mare (but before the Recipient of Love ending) and not long after the events of End Roll, so there will be spoilers for both franchises. We estimate the Alice Mare kids to be in their preteens, roughly around middle school aged.
> 
> The rp is still in progress and is actually being edited from when we first wrote it (sometime last year), so updates will take time! We'll be rolling out chapters of what we've written so far as soon as those are finished being edited. We hope you enjoy our work! c:
> 
> Originally written in **June/July 2019** ; edited **04/16/20**.

_"In a recently shocking development, juvenile death row inmate Russell Seager was found dead in his solitary jail cell from what appeared to be a suicide, with multiple stab wounds to the neck. It was his last day of the Happy Dream Rehabilitation Program and he was set to be released due to his supposed success. Russell Seager, aged 14, recently became infamous on the news due to his involvement in nine consecutive murders..."_

Allen put the newspaper down with a quiet sigh, his eyes full of sadness and quiet regret. The poor teen...he sounded so much like what original five could have become had they not been taken in. It was possible that Russell could have been a potential victim to the Nightmare Syndrome too, from what Allen was able to gather from the few news reports he had read and heard about upon the case going public. The public at the time labeled the teen a sociopath--but was it possible that he, too, was just a victim of the demons?

Blue eyes drifted back to the newspaper, skimming over the reporter's recount of Russell's crimes and trial before their owner paused at the bottom few paragraphs. _"Happy Dream's creator, Dreamsend Inc., reported that with the low success rate of their drug, they will be terminating its distribution and closing down the branch of research. While they will no longer create and administer doses of Happy Dream, they hope that they will be able to put their research efforts into other projects._

_“For more information on Happy Dream and Dreamsend Inc., see pg. 5--"_

"Hey!"

Allen was unfortunately unable to read any further, finding the newspaper previously in hand ripped suddenly from his grasp. He pivoted in his seat to give a half-hearted glare at the hat-wearing offender squinting at the newspaper article with a wrinkled nose.

"Geez Allen, whatcha so focused on? Reading such depressing news about some poor dude." Joshua gave Allen a lazy smirk, raising his eyebrow at the other's unamused look. "Relax, would ya? I don't think Mr. Cliff would want us to read about such a sad thing."

"I was reading it because I thought it might help us out," the blonde quipped, rising to his feet and snatching the paper back. With the newspaper back in his hands, he turned to page five. Joshua peered over the other boy's shoulders, quickly scanning the new page.

"Not gonna lie, being able to enter someone else's dream sounds hella cool," he commented, "but didn't the article say the company was stopping its research in that? I don't know if we can use it to help Teach..." He could think of at least two problems they might run into.

"It's still worth a try to ask," Allen pointed out, well-aware of that fact; "it's the only lead we have right now." There technically _was_ one more, but the blonde wasn't going to use it. Not yet; only as a last resort. "You know it's already been a few years. If we delay any more, it might be too late."

Joshua grunted in response, shrugging his shoulders with a slight grimace. "Alright, fine." He pulled his smartphone out of his pocket, fingers flying across the screen as he made a quick Goodle **™** search on the company. "But you're gonna have to do all the work," he decided, turning his device around to show the screen to Allen. Dreamsend Inc.'s mobile website filled the screen, with the company's contact information pulled up to the center.

Allen looked at the address with mild surprise, not having expected the company to be located so close to the hospital--but that made things much easier. He was planning to call at first but if the company was possibly shutting down the Happy Dream department, they might not even have the extension to it connected anymore. It would also be much more difficult to explain why a hospital was calling the company. (He could certainly explain it to Mr. Cliff, but it still might cause a bit of a problem.)

As Joshua turned the phone back and locked the screen, the blonde folded the newspaper up and slipped it into his pocket, the object jutting out slightly due to its height. "Hey Joshua," Allen asked, "are you up for going on a small field trip?"

The blue-haired boy paused in his actions, blinking slowly at Allen before he finally registered the implications of the words, lips breaking out into a wide grin. "You bet!” he exclaimed. “Let's go get the others!"

Without waiting for Allen to respond, he pivoted on his foot in a 180 and raced outside of the room, down the corridor, and to the wing where the other children were staying, leaving the blonde no choice but to hastily make his way after him. The hallway rattled with the sound of the boys' footsteps, prompting the girls to open their doors to observe the ruckus. The usual source and suspect of any loud noise was Joshua, given that he never seemed to lose any of the energy he had when he was younger. Allen, unfortunately, was also usually lassoed into whatever mess the former was making, so it wasn't a surprise to see the two of them together all the time. The two boys slowed to a stop at the sight of the open doors, Joshua nearly vibrating in place while Allen pulled the newspaper back out in preparation to relay the news to the others.

“Oh? What do you have there?” Chelsy inquired, staring at the newspaper Allen presented to them. The girls gathered around to read the article, the suicide and Happy Dream’s former purpose in particular catching their attention. The grotesque description of Russell’s death and his crimes made Chelsy nauseous, as she averted her eyes to focus on the paragraph pertaining to the Dreamsend company.

“You’ve found something worthwhile in that article,” Stella commented, watching Allen with a knowing look. The boy merely nodded in response, unsurprised that the pianist caught on so quickly.

“Mhm. Today’s news about Russell caught my eye, not because of the tragedy of the event--” Well, Allen supposed that _was_ a part of it; the nature revolving the older teen’s circumstances was too eerily similar to that of the five here. Could that vest-clad teen, whose expression was so blank, have been saved, had there been intervention? “--but because of this ‘drug’ mentioned that lets you travel in dreams. The halting of Happy Dream’s production will be a problem but if we’re able to go to Dreamsend and tell them about Teacher and everything that happened, maybe we’ll be able to finally save him. Maybe there’s still some of it leftover.”

“Of course there are leftovers!” Letty declared with a little too much confidence. “Companies like that always hide the good stuff from the public. Can’t trust them with telling the truth unless we go there ourselves!” The prospect of being able to go outside and save Teacher was enough to convince her that it was a solid plan. Not to mention, being able to travel in dreams?

The other two girls were not as eager nor as convinced as Letty was, but somewhat willing nonetheless in their own way. None of them ever really moved on; ever since Teacher fell into a coma, the children have been attempting to find ways to bring back their beloved Teacher, and their research had been fruitless until now.

“It’s certainly an idea… I don’t think the grown-ups will listen to us… but we won’t know if we don’t try,“ Chelsy affirmed, though a large part of her was still uncertain. “But Allen... you'll have to lead the way." Even though it was quite matter-of-fact that Allen was the leader of the friend group, putting even a little burden on him made Chelsy feel guilty for not contributing more. If one thing didn’t change from years of growing into adolescence, it was the constant push of responsibility onto Allen. ".... Please."

"Alright, alright," the blonde exasperatedly replied, bemused by the contrast in the girls' reactions. Trust Letty to be exuberant by the prospect, Chelsy, a bit unsure, and Stella, recalcitrant but still willing because the rest of the group was going. "I'll lead us there." Once again, Allen found himself in charge of the group of children, although he found that he didn’t particularly mind it very much. It was sort of comforting to know that he was still trusted enough to lead them all.

Folding the newspaper and placing it back in his pocket, the leader was about to turn around and lead the group to the hospital exit, only to stop when he noticed a figure with a familiar mop of messy chestnut hair peering down the hallway, likely drawn over by the hubbub surrounding the group of five. The noticing of his presence prompted the adult to make his way over. “Ah...”

"Allen, Joshua, Letty, Chelsy, Stella," Cliff greeted, approaching them with a nod at each of the kids with each respective name. Stopping shortly before them, he leaned forward slightly to lessen the height between himself and the preteens, bracing his hands against his knees. "You seem to be busy,” he noted with a smile. “Where are you off to?"

"Hi Mr. Cliff! We're going on a field trip!" Joshua grinned, puffing himself up.

A similar cheeky smile appeared on Letty as she waved to the doctor. “Hey, mister! The field trip’s gonna be so fun! Please, pleeaaase let us go!” 

The doctor cocked an eyebrow at the words. "A field trip?" he echoed curiously. "I wasn't aware that you had anything planned today."

"It's a bit impromptu," Allen explained, gazing up at the man. "We're going to go to Dreamsend Inc."

Cliff frowned at the words, recognising the company name. How could he not, what with it gaining so much media coverage as of late. "Why are all of you going there?"

"Allen believes that it may help us save Teacher," Stella stated, moving her hands over the hem of her skirt and flattening the fabric underneath her palm. She watched as the doctor stiffened in surprise, abruptly straightening up. "You'll allow us to go, will you?"

Chelsy could clearly see and understand Cliff’s hesitation. The backlash that Dreamsend had been getting ever since their subject had committed suicide would have seemed like a red flag for most, especially a medical practiticioner like Cliff. However, discovering such a company that had tangible results, even if a failure, was the closest the five have gone to finding a way to save Teacher. “If anything happens… w-we all have contact with you, Mr. Cliff,” she assured, patting the pocket of her apron, which carried a small smartphone. “... we’ll be fine.”

Cliff raised his fingers to his chin, frown deepening as he mulled over the children's words. Dreamsend was not a place for five children to go, especially unattended. What with the negative reception it had been receiving, it was likely that there were many news reporters or protestors at the doors--but he was also more than aware of how much the children wanted to save their teacher. He wanted to as well.

Allen closely observed the other's expression. "We know where the company is," he offered in a final effort to placate the doctor's concerns. He could already see the adult’s hesitation crumpling. "It's only a few blocks away from here. We'll go straight there and once our business is done, we'll come straight back. And like Chelsy said, we all have our phones."

The chestnut-haired man eventually relaxed at the children’s combined appeals, finally convinced. "Alright," he acquiesced, "you five may go. However, please try to come back before dinner at the latest. Don't take any unnecessary detours." He gave a pointed glance towards Joshua, who returned it with a 'who, me?' look.

The blonde nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Cliff." With that said and done, he looked at the other children. "Let's go," he stated, turning back towards the hospital entrance. He began to lead the group outside, the doctor forlornly watching the children leave.

It was as if they were walking straight back into the Dream. But it wasn’t like they could delay saving Teacher much further; each passing day was essentially one day closer to the day they’d be unable to save him. Heaven knows what he’s going through in the Dream as they waited.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not even the Dreamsend quartet could avoid the backlash of Russell's fate.
> 
> Originally written **July 2019** ; edited **April 24, 2020**.

Meanwhile, Dreamsend Inc. was seeing the roughest of its days. Rumor had it that the majority of Happy Dream employees would be laid off and a number of the company’s financial partnerships would be terminated. Frankly, the employees themselves couldn’t blame them. The company’s reputation had been stained with the increasing number of failures of the Happy Dream experiment, which was exposed to the public with the most recent case. Security was upgraded as guards stood along the company’s doors to control crowds that protested against Happy Dream’s inhumane experiments and goals altogether. It had gotten to the point where they had to close their landlines, PO box, and restrict receiving emails to those within the company only, so that they'd stop receiving so much criticism and threats for what happened to Russell Seager. 

The infamy of Russell’s case was not so widespread at first. It wasn’t entirely uncommon for juveniles to be charged with crimes, given the chaos in parts of his hometown; he’d had some already on his record, but they were mostly minor: truancy, breaking the curfew, loitering--all easily gone under the radar. That completely changed the moment the media caught wind of the string of murders the child had confessed to, and it greedily ate up all the information to immediately report on.

After that, things exploded. The news traveled from local media to state media and then internationally, no thanks to the rise of the internet and accessibility of information. People flocked to the court where the case was held while those who couldn’t had their eyes on the events with anticipation. The announcement of Russell’s convictions for all his crimes further fueled the flames and soon, just about everyone came to know about the boy who’d been involved in the death of nine individuals, the entering of Dreamsend Inc., and the company’s in-development rehabilitation program.

With Russell’s case being so well-known, controversy came to surround it. His status as a minor raised concerns regarding the legality of his trial and sentence to death row. Not only that, but the nature of the Happy Dream program also drew criticism from all types of people, ranging from those disapproving of the idea that those who committed a capital crime could be rehabilitated, to those who _were_ in favour of the idea but had quickly changed their tune over Dreamsend’s consistent failures, which resulted in the death of all participants. The outcry had worsened over the possible inhumane nature of the experiment, especially given Russell’s age (even if his aunt had given consent) and over the lack of counseling and therapy available to the subjects.

None of this helped alleviate Walter’s sour mood, which seemed to have gotten more unpleasant with the prospect that Dreamsend would let go of him and his colleagues. Raymond and Fairia’s bickering over the most minute things constantly filled the office with their noise and awkward air. Yue seemed to be the only one not as disturbed about the turn of events, though Raymond would end up dragging her into the mess he had made with his ex-girlfriend. The researcher wondered if they were truly fooling around, or they were attempting to deny that they’d undoubtedly be laid off. Their direct involvement in Russell’s dreams, even for research, somehow reached the press, which seemed to pressure the company into having to let go of the employees in question. 

Even now, Raymond and Fairia were in the midst of another one of their verbal altercations, while Yue had selected a spot far away enough from the pair to hopefully not be swept up by them this time. The sound of a sudden buzz suddenly cut through the room, ceasing the quarrel between the two exes. There was finally some peace and quiet in the office, along with an audible sigh of relief from many of the employees. Yue glanced up towards the speakers in perplexion, wondering who had come to Dreamsend; the buzzing sound signified the arrival of visitors but with the company currently turning away all news outlets because of the recent controversy, she doubted that anyone could enter the building with the increased security, much less be granted permission to enter.

"I'll go get it!" Fairia's singsong voice rang out as she breezed out of the cubicles and made a beeline for the elevator.

The silence remaining in the office, while welcoming, left the grey-haired woman with little else to do but idly glance around, only stopping when she caught sight of Walter, who looked worse for wear. He appeared more irritated than usual (understandably so; she couldn’t help but wonder how he was able to ‘tolerate’ Raymond and Fairia’s seemingly inane squabbles for so long) and though the researcher had always been one of the more prickly types, his bad mood was starting to reach a worrying level. Concerned for her friend, Yue abandoned her chair and took a seat nearby the blond researcher.

"You seem bothered, Walter," she commented, her voice kind; "is something on your mind?" 

The hint of concern in the voice of his colleague forced Walter to keep his heavy eyelids open. Making someone else worry about him was the last thing he wanted to do, but it seemed like his expression said everything. No use in hiding it now. "Ah, Yue," he greeted, turning his chair to face her. “I won't lie to you and say that there isn't. It’s about Russell..." The boy’s suicide was one of many things -- among grief, guilt, and anger -- that kept him awake at night. It definitely affected his other colleagues as well, visible in their darkened eye bags, increased caffeine intake to stay awake, and their lessened vigor to work. "He was only fourteen. Even with such numbness to guilt or grief, there would have been many years ahead of him to learn if not for such cruel circumstances. My research presented a high chance of success, and he even made it out of the seventh day alive -- what made him take his life afterwards, Yue? …Perhaps we should have taken a different approach. Perhaps we shouldn’t have done this experiment at all.”

Walter’s admission that his declined mood was a result of Russell’s death did not come as a surprise to Yue, given that he, Raymond, and Fairia were the most involved with the teen’s progress. Despite the fact that all of them were supposed to remain objective and detached as to minimize bias or potentially alter the progression of the subjects’ rehabilitation, Russell evidently made a significant impact in all of their lives, either for the better or for the worst.

"Perhaps there was more we could do," she agreed, suspecting that her business partner was also listening into the conversation; "However, I believe that our decision to help Russell was the right thing to do. Everyone else had abandoned him or refused to look at him as a person because of his crimes. If we had not gotten involved, he may have never changed.”

What would have happened if Russell was still alive, anyway? The criminal justice system was unkind to those sentenced to death row, and she doubted that he would ever be released. Attempting to appeal his trial would take time, especially with the conflicting public opinion as well as the necessity of organizing a legal team that would be funded to properly support the teen. The teen had also briefly mentioned that his aunt was not particularly kind to him either, and he had been under her custody...

"I wish that things turned out differently, too,” she admitted, “but we cannot change what has already happened. All we can do is take what we’ve learned and what happened and try to improve things for the better, even if the stride towards the future will be long and difficult."

“I suppose you’re right,” Walter sighed, folding his hands upon his lap. “Maybe we can find a chance to redeem ourselves as well. Though, with the lovebirds’ incessant arguments, one of us will go insane before then. I wonder how you’re able to deal with that fool Raymond.”

Yue gave him a tired smile, fully revealing her own exhaustion. "Raymond wears on me as well, but you come to ignore his antics or accept some of it. Sometimes, it’s just much easier to go along with his antics rather than try and rebuff them, especially when he’s actually in the middle of doing his job."

Raymond doing his job? Walter rolled his eyes, unable to conceive the thought as realistic. The merchant was lucky to have such a reliable partner to keep him still. "Which is seldom. You can ask me to slap him upside the head if you ever can't take him anymore."

The other’s biting response elicited a laugh from the petite woman, and she raised a hand to cover her curved up lips with her sleeve. “I’ll keep your offer in mind.”

The nearby telephone suddenly rang, interrupting the conversation between the two. Yue glanced over and read the number on the display screen, pressing on the speaker button upon registering the extension as coming from the conference room. "Yue speaking."

"Hello!" Fairia’s voice rang out. "I'm guessing you're still with Walter then? That's good, that's good; I think I need him for this."

Yue raised a silent eyebrow at her fellow co-worker's words, gazing towards the blond in confusion.

"Can you come to the conference room, Walter? I've brought the guests there. They said they want to speak to someone about Happy Dream and you're the expert on this, since you’re directly involved in the research. I know we stopped making the drug but they're _really_ insistent on speaking with someone, and--” she cut herself off, her voice dropping to a whisper. “--I don't quite have the heart to turn them away."

A pause; perhaps Fairia was momentarily speaking to the guests? "We'll wait for you here,” she spoke up again, “Bye for now!"

Once Fairia delivered her message through the telephone, Walter's frown grew deeper. There was no good reason to return to the experiment that left the entire company in shambles. Perhaps he should have been the one to bring the guests in so he could 'have the heart' make it clear to them that all drug production and experiments were not continuing. Or perhaps he didn't want a repeat of Russell. 

Yue ended the call with another press of the speaker button, mulling over the guide’s puzzling words. While she would have preferred for Fairia to be direct, it was likely that the white-haired guide didn’t want to explicitly say everything while in the presence of the visitors.

"Why don't you go ahead first?" the petite woman recommended, rising to her feet; "I'll go retrieve Raymond if he’s not yet ready and meet you there at the conference room." She turned to walk away, approaching the cubicles where she last heard her partner's voice and ducked into the aisle, her form vanishing behind the cover of the dividers.

“I’ll do that. I’ll see you two up there.” Staring at the telephone, Walter dreaded what he was about to face. The higher-ups? Private investigators? God forbid the police. The researcher stood up from his seat, collecting a few binders from his desk that contained records of previous experiments, information pertaining to Happy Dream’s purpose and plan, and drug production records. He threw on his lab coat and walked up the flight of stairs to the third floor that housed the conference room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you'd like to follow either of us outside of AO3:
> 
> Evan: [Twitter](https://twitter.com/takemus_)  
> Taro: [Twitter](https://twitter.com/sataroimo)


End file.
